5 times Gajeel almost told Levy that he was in love with her
by Lady Orez
Summary: Five times Gajeel Redfox almost told Levy McGarden that he was in love her, and the one time she did. Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail of the characters.
1. Chapter 1

The first time that Gajeel Redfox realized that he was in love with Levy McGarden was on a Tuesday, around teatime.

Her and those idiots she called her partners had just returned from another successful mission.

Gajeel was in his usual spot on the edge of the Guild Hall, his feet up on the table in front of him, a half drunk beer beside him and his eyes open a fraction- just so he could pretend to be asleep rather than be bothered by the other idiots in the guild.

Levy was on the other side of the hall. She was occupying a whole table to herself, the top of it covered in large paving stone size books, their covers coloured in different shade of leather and warn form much use.

Her hair was tied back with one of her bright bandanas, the yellow of its colour standing out against the blue wildness of her hair.

Gajeel noticed a little line appear between Levy's eyes. He knew that expression, it meant that she had found something in those tomes that had caught her attention.

As if on cue, she reached over and hauled another large book towards her, her fingers scurried over the pages until she settled on one.

Her lips moved as she mimed the words that she read.

Gajeel found that he was concentrating on those lips.

He'd never really noticed her lips before; all his focus so far had always been on her big emotive eyes.

But now as he watched her mouth, he wondered what it would taste like.

It was only through extensive internal scolding that Gajeel did not go over and find out.

Luckily Natsu had come in and started a fight, so for the moment Gajeel was distracted from the thought of Levy McGarden's lips and what he could do to them.

The second time Gajeel almost told Levy that he was in love with her was on Halloween Night.

Gajeel again at his usual table in the guild with Panther Lily, had over heard Levy telling the Blondie, Lucy, about how the Halloween party was her favorite one of the year; as it was the one night where she could dress up as any of her fictional heroes- and no one would think that she was weird.

Panther Lily decided that Levy's cause was noble and offered to help her and Lucy decorate the guildhall for the party.

So obviously Gajeel couldn't just have his cat be the helpful one and with much stumbling and pauses, he also offered to help them decorate.

The smile that Levy gave him made her eyes sparkle, and his heart miss a beat.

When Gajeel arrived at the party the night was already in full swing.

The music, he was delighted to hear, was that of Rockabilly. Finally he thought, some one has good taste.

As he stood on the outskirts of the party he watched the rest of his guild interact. Charcoal Breath had been really original and had gone dressed as a dragon, a large papier mache head was placed over his, the crude mask was painted with gold and red scales.

Blondie and Erza were dressed as a princess and knight, respectively. Gajeel guessed these were the same outfit's they'd worn in that ridiculous play he had heard about.

Gajeel himself thought that he had been quite a bit more creative than the other costumes that he had seen.

Panther Lily and him had decided to dress in matching outfits, after all his cat was his partner in everything.

Each of them wore a large dark purple hat, with a long curved ostrich feather flaring from the top.

An embroidered waistcoat was button over the top of a black billowing shirt, which was laced to the top of their chests.

And on their left hand…and paw, there was a long curved gleaming hook.

"Captain Hook!" Levy had said, surprised. But then her eyes softened, in that way which made Gajeel melt. "I could never expect you to come dressed as anything but a villain, could I Gajeel."

"Who are you?" Gajeel said, hoping to distract her from that previous comment.

"Me?" Levy said, twirling. "I am Alice in Wonderland of course."

"Who is she?" Gajeel asked, feeling stupid.

Levy beamed.

Gajeel soon realized why she was beaming. She had found a new victim, someone to lecture upon her beloved books. But Gajeel didn't mind. Not when her eyes danced with wonderment as she described the mischievousness of the Chester Cat.

Her lips drew him into a world of wonderment.

"I will have to lend you the book sometime, but you must keep it safe, it is after all my favorite book."

Now he had found out two of Levy's favorite things, both in one day.

Gajeel could feel the words bubble up in his throat, threatening to spill out.

He moved his lips to speak.

The loud shout broke Levy's gaze from his.

Natsu strikes again: he'd set his paper dragon mask on fire.


	2. Chapter 2

The third time Gajeel almost told Levy that he was in love with her was at the beach. ShadowGear had received ten tickets to a breach and spa resort as payment to their last job.

Gajeel was surprised when one sunny Wednesday morning Levy had come bounding up, holding in her hand of the golden tickets to the resort and passes one each to Panther Lily and him.

Gajeel initially decided not to go, Black Steel Gajeel does not do sun bathing.

But Panther Lily persuaded him otherwise, "Gajeel, Levy will be very disappointed if you refuse her offer- in fact I feel confident in saying that she will never talk to you again."

Gajeel thought of the possibility of never seeing Levy smile at him, ever again.

"Fine we'll go. But don't expect me to rub sun lotion on you."

Stupid cat.

On the first day of the vacation weekend the group decided to head down to the beach early and spend the day there.

Gajeel was annoyed to see that Natsu and his fur ball had been invited too.

Great, now he'd have to hear that Fire Head's voice for a whole three days.

'Why did I agree to this?' Gajeel wondered.

Looking over at Lily, Gajeel swore that he saw the feline wink at him. Stupid cat.

Erza organized the group into two teams.

On Erza's team were Lily, Levy, Gray and Droy.

On Natsu's team (yes, that bone head had been made the captain.) there were himself, Gray, Happy, Lucy and Jet.

He saw Droy stick his tongue out at Jet, as he had been chosen to be on the same team as their beloved Levy.

It made his blood boil the way those two bandied Levy around as if she was a price.

This pent up aggravation was probably the reason why his first throw over the net was aimed squarely at Droy's face. Gajeel could not deny there was a sense of satisfaction at hearing the slap of the ball hit that idiot's head. But maybe he hadn't meant to make him bleed quite so much.

Erza, of course, called a foul and demanded that Gajeel was sent off.

Gajeel didn't mind much; at least it meant he didn't have to be on Natsu's team anymore.

As the game progressed Gajeel discovered a rather wonderful perk of watching the game rather than playing it.

Now Gajeel had tried his best to act against his worse nature and more like a gentleman when he had first seen Levy in a swimsuit that day.

But gentlemen be damned. You do not need to avert your eyes when you have sunglasses on. And this ringside view gave his eyes more than enough to see.

There was a particular moment when Levy jumped up high to reach the volleyball, snacking it over the net with a thwack. This jump also had the added bonus of displaying Levy's many _good qualities_ to Gajeel's watchful gaze.

Lily caught his eye, scowled at him and slowly shook his head.

The look said 'Pervert'.

Stupid cat.

Once the game had finished, unsurprisingly with a victory to Erza's team, the group rejoined Gajeel on the beach mats to spend the rest of the afternoon bathing in the sun.

Gajeel, who when they had initially arrived this morning, had elbowed his way to place his beach towel next to Levy's, was delighted to see her sit down next to him.

"Hey Gajeel." She said, brightly, "You okay down there?"

Gajeel nodded with a noncommittal response.

"Only," she said, "You seem to have gone a bit red", she gestured to the general bodily area, "everywhere."

He quickly looked down. Hell. She was right; he looked like a baked lobster.

"Gajeel, did you not bring any lotion with you?" Levy asked, concerned.

"No, didn't think I'd need it, with me being made of mostly iron. I guess I'd better go back, don't want to look anymore like one of Fire Boy's victims." Gajeel said, sadly, gesturing to Natsu who was trying to frighten off a seagull from his ice cream.

"Don't worry Gajeel. I have some more lotion here, you can use some of mine." Levy said, reaching into her canvas bag and pulling out a large tube of cream.

"You see I burn so easily I always carry extra sun lotion with me." She explained.

Gejeel thankfully took the tube and slowly began to rub the thick cream into his skin.

However, he reached a problem, he couldn't do his back.

He tried reaching with his hand- it didn't work.

He turned his hand into a metal paddle to gain extra reach- that failed as well.

He was stuck.

"Gajeel, would you like me to put the lotion on your back, you seem to be having a bit of trouble there." Levy said, smiling at him.

Words. He needed words. He was speechless now, just at the prospect of Levy's hands on him; he dreaded to think of how much of a mess he would be if she actually did help him.

Lily sensing his partner's distress spoke on his behalf, "I am sure that Gajeel would find that very useful Miss. Levy."

Gejeel sent the cat a death glare. Lily just smiled. Stupid cat.

Gajeel would never forget those two minutes of Levy's small soft hands lathering his back in sun lotion.

He was pretty sure he moaned at some point.

"Did you say something, Gajeel?" Levy inquired, her hands smoothing over his shoulders.

Damn.

"I'm all done now Gajeel. You'll not be getting sun burnt any more, not with Levy McGarden on the case." She smiled and gave him a wink.

Gajeel sat up, to his shame he actually felt light headed.

Levy was looking at him expectedly, her smile lingering at the corners of her mouth.

Gajeel swallowed, he didn't often find himself saying this.

"Thank you…for the help." He stumbled over the last few words. Damn he wasn't used to this.

He looked at her face, from her big hazel eyes to her snug nose.

"Here," Gajeel said, lifting his hand to her cheek to wipe of a streak of sun cream, "You've got something there."

The sun was reflecting in her sea blue hair, a light breeze rippled past causing her hair to sparkle.

"Levy?"

"Yes."

"I-"

CRASH.

"Hey! Seagull, bring me back my ice cream! Don't you fly away from me you thief! Happy fly up there and get that bird!" Natsu shouted, getting up and running after said bird.

"Aye Sir!"

Watching Levy and the other's laugh at Natsu and Happy's pursuit of the bird, Gajeel wondered if the Fire Breath did this on purpose.


	3. Chapter 3

The Forth Time.

He sometimes had to wonder what went on in that girl's mind.

"Hey Gajeel, are we almost there yet?" Levy's weak voice asked, from where she was nestled in his arms. Looking down at her he noticed how much paler she looked compared to earlier: the mud and grass streaks that stained her face stood out much more prominently now.

"Almost there Shrimp." Gajeel gruffly said.

"I am sorry Gajeel. I've ruined everything." As she said this, tears fell from the corners of her eyes. Gajeel watched the droplets progressive journey: from her eyes, over the arch of her face and finally disappearing into her hairline.

Panther Lily, who was flying above, noticed her distress and said to Gajeel,

"Maybe we should take a break, for Miss. Levy's sake."

Gajeel just nodded in agreement. He walked over to the bank of grass, which ran along side the path, and gently placed Levy down onto it. If it hadn't been for the blood and bruises she would have looked like a fairy goddess lying amongst the greenery and flowers.

Gajeel slung off his pack and pulled from it a water skin. Unscrewing the lid he placed the lip of the skin to Levy's mouth, all the while supporting her head in the palm of his large calloused hand.

"Drink up Shrimp." Gajeel said. After a few seconds she turned her head away, signaling that she had enough to drink.

"Gajeel?" Panther Lily said, drawing Gajeel's attention away from Levy.

"What's up Lily?"

"Levy." The cat answered, "Her wounds haven't closed up. I fear there were some side effects that we didn't anticipate. Do you remember what type of magic the criminal used?"

How could Gajeel go back to that moment? The memory of her body lying limp and broken, of her blood spattering the white flowers: red on white. And that sick bastard laughing over her, beating her further: proud of his handy work. Like you once were, said a malicious voice in his head. Gajeel ground his teeth.

"It was a type of lashing magic." He gruffly answering Lily's question.

"Could there have been poison in the lashes?" Lily inquired, looking back at Levy.

"He wasn't using a weapon, just moving his hands." Gajeel said, following Lily's gaze.

"Humm. Feasible, poison transfer is still a high possibility. It would make sense that one would expand their magic in that direction." Lily said, thoughtfully stroking a paw along his chin. "What I suggest, Gajeel." Lily began again turning towards his partner, "Is that I fly ahead to Fairy Tail. As the crow flies it should only take me until the afternoon to reach the guild, and then we can used a transporter to make the journey back here."

Gajeel nodded: it really was their best option.

"I think if we move Miss. Levy we could risk doing more sever damage." Lily stated. He went over and placed a paw on Levy's forehead. "She is burning up already."

"Ok. Get goin' cat." Gajeel commanded.

Lily's wings stretched out, like an angel's, as he took off into the sky.

"Gajeel?" Her soft whisper was barley audible, even with his keen hearing. "Gajeel?"

"Yea' Shrimp?" Gajeel asked, moving to sit beside her.

"I am so sorry, its my fault-" She started to say, but Gajeel cut he off.

"You ain't got nothing to be sorry about Levy." he said adamantly.

"But I wasn't strong enough, if you'd had a different partner the mission would have been a easier and not the mess I created." Levy's eyes filled with tears as she looked up at Gajeel.

"No. Shrimp if any one is to blame it's me. I should have listened to you earlier, and not changed in, like that damn fool Natsu."

Levy smiled at that, "It was a very Natsu moment." She agreed.

"See, had to be my fault; if I'm acting anything like charcoal breath."

Levy started to softly laugh, however, the effort caused her to start coughing, painfully.

"Alright Shrimp, you take it easy now. No more laughing, you hear." Gajeel said, trying to keep his tone light, but he couldn't stop his eyes betraying the worry that he felt inside.

Sitting beside where she lay, Gajeel stroked her hair away from her face in gentle movements. Her customary hair band was missing; must have got lost somewhere on the journey and her hair fell in wild waves. There was the occasional twig but overall her hair looked beautiful, fanning away from her lovely face. Gajeel winced, her lovely battered face. Levy's eyes were closed how, her eyelashes fluttering against her pale cheek. Gajeel couldn't help but be reminded of a butterfly when he looked at her closed eyes; the lashes like delicate wings fanning out. However, like a butterfly, he was also reminded of her fragility; butterflies only had a few days to live.

Looking away, Gajeel inwardly cursed. He did not need to be thinking that way: Levy would be fine. She just might take a bit of time to heal. Still, as the hours ticked by and as he watched the sun slowly arch over the sky, he grew more and more concerned: where was that damn cat?

"Gajeel?" Levy whispered between dry lips. She had been a sleep for a few hours, but the pain had woken her up again.

"Yes, Levy?" Gajeel replied.

"Did you get him?"

Gajeel was confused for second, but then realized that she was talking about the wizard they had been hired to stop: the one who had done _this_ too her.

"Yes, Shrimp. I got him."

Levy gave a dopy smile, "That's good. I am glad you could beat him, even if I couldn't."

"Hey don't say that Shrimp." Gajeel indignantly argued, "You fought him so well that the guy was barley standing by the time I got there!" Ok that wasn't technically true, Gajeel had to admit, but Levy had put up a good fight and had certainly weakened the criminal wizard.

"Your sweet Gajeel." Levy said; she didn't believe him for one second, but she appreciated the gesture. Lifting her hand she clumsily stroked the side of his face. Her fingers bushed long the metal studs embedded in his skin. He closed his eyes, letting himself pretend for a minute. He breathed deeply and with his eyes still shut, said,

"Levy, I lo-"

"Gajeel! Levy!" The voice of Mirajane broke the spell, and shook Gajeel back to reality with a jolt. Both Levy and Gajeel looked over to see Mirajane and Wendy approaching quickly towards them riding a transporter, with Lily flying beside them. All had worried expressions on their faces.

"Hello Gajeel." Lily greeted, being the first one to reach them, "How is she?"

Gajeel coughed, he was still trying to get his head in order. "She has been asleep most of the day, but I don't think that she is worse."

Panther Lily nodded in approval. Gajeel heard the transporter engine stop and the sound of the hurried footsteps of Mira and Wendy approaching.

"Oh Levy, you poor thing!" Mira said, as she knelt down to get a better look at the blue hair girl.

"Hi Mira." Levy greeted weakly, but still managing to smile. "Hi Wendy."

"Ok Levy, don't worry" Wendy stated, as she also knelt by Levy, "I'll use my magic." Wendy closer her eyes in concentration, hovering her hands above Levy's abdomen her healing magic radiated from her hands. Almost instantaneously Levy's face relaxed, the painful expression subsided to one of peace. Gajeel winced; he wished he could have taken away her pain hours ago.

Mira, who had noticed Gajeel's anxious looks at Levy, gently said to him,

"Gajeel, we've got this covered. Would you mind having a look at the transporter? Get it ready to go?"

Gajeel looked straight into Mira's big eyes and knew that she understood. With one last glance at Levy's face, he got up and walked away from Levy and towards the transporters. Finally, there was something he could do to help her.


End file.
